Louisiana Modifies Recording Requirements

• June 26, 2017
• Adam Faria

Louisiana has passed Senate Bill No. 236 which amends, reenacts and sets forth several provisions relating to recording fees, recording standards, the maintenance of recorded documents, and the electronic recording of documents. These provisions are effective on August 1, 2017.

SB 236 amends and reenacts R.S. 13:844 to allow for the collection of the following fees relative to the filing and recordation of documents:

1. For one to five page documents, one hundred dollars.
2. For six to twenty-five page documents, two hundred dollars.
3. For twenty-six to fifty page documents, three hundred dollars.
4. For documents in excess of fifty pages, three hundred dollars for the first fifty pages and five dollars for each subsequent page.
5. For indexing of all documents filed for record for each name after the tenth name that is required to be indexed, five dollars per name.

The above fees include the indexing of all documents filed for recording for up to ten names and one certified copy of the recorded document or e-certification of document.

Additionally, the following fees have been reenacted or amended:

1. A fee of fifty dollars for the recordation of an act or affidavit to cancel a single mortgage, lien, or privilege.
2. For notarizing acknowledgments of acts executed under private signature, with seal and certificate, ten dollars.
3. For a certificate of real estate mortgage and lien certificate with seal, for each name in which search is made, and for one definable property only, twenty dollars for the first name and ten dollars for each additional name. There shall be an additional charge of one dollar per exception in the event that more than ten exceptions are contained on a certificate.
4. For canceling real estate mortgage, with original note, ten dollars.
5. For making copies of all official documents, no more than two dollars per page.
6. Except as provided in R.S. 13:844(A)(1)(f)(ii), for attesting any record or copy thereof, ten dollars. For a file-stamped conformed copy, five dollars.

For documents that are to be recorded in both the mortgage and conveyance records, the applicable fee(s), outlined above, will be assessed once upon recording in the mortgage records and again upon recording in the conveyance records. This fee schedule applies to documents on either eight-and-one-half-inch-by-eleven-inch paper or on eight-and-one-half-inch-by-fourteen-inch paper; for any other size paper, there is an additional fee of twenty dollars per page. A “document” includes any exhibits, riders, or additional documents attached to a document presented for filing.

Documents presented for recording will not be accepted unless the first page of the document has a two inch top margin, one inch margin on each side, and a one inch margin on the bottom of the document. Additionally, the type shall be no less than eight point font and the first page of the document must be captioned as to the type of act.

SB 236 also amends and reenacts Code of Civil Procedure Article 258(A) authorizing recorders to adopt and implement a plan, to be published, which provides for the acceptance and filing of electronic records of any instrument which would otherwise be recordable (excepting original maps, plats, property descriptions, or photographs related to the practice of land surveying). Article 258(D) requires recorders to adopt and implement the plan for electronic recording of documents in accordance with the provisions of Article 258(A) by January 1, 2022.

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